The Silent Children – Carol Wyer

The boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie, and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this…

Years later, a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed.

Detective Robyn Carter knows this secret is the key to the case, but his friends and family don’t offer any clues, and all her team have to go on is a size-ten footprint.

Then a woman is found in a pool of blood at the bottom of her staircase, and a seemingly insignificant detail in her stepdaughter’s statement makes Robyn wonder: are the two bodies are connected, and has the killer only just begun?

When another body confirms Robyn’s worst fears, she realises she’s in a race against time to stop the killer before they strike again. But just as she thinks she’s closing in, one of her own team goes missing.

Buried in the past is a terrible injustice. Can Robyn uncover the truth before another life is lost?

An absolutely heart-stopping and compelling serial killer thriller that will keep you up all night. Perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter, Rachel Abbot and Robert Dugoni.

The Silent Children is book 4 in Carol Wyer’s fabulous DI Robyn Carter series, I absolutely loved The Missing Girls so I could not wait for this next instalment. Spookily, in my last review I said that I was waiting for book 4 with baited breathe…and it was around that time that the cover was revealed for this one!

The Silent Children opens with a grandmother and her two grandsons enjoying a morning walk, following The Gruffulo Trail up on Cannock Chase however it doesn’t end brilliantly (of course not with this being a crime book after all!) when one of the boys diverts away from the trail and finds a man dead in his car, shot with precision and at close range. There is very little evidence as to why he was killed and who is the perpetrator, in fact all the team have to go on is a size ten shoe print. When another body turns up, again in mysterious circumstances, the teams resources are stretched. A tenuous link between the two victims is found but is it enough to determine the same murderer?

Alongside the murder investigations, DI Carter and her team are having to adjust to working in close proximity to DI Shearer’s team following some office moves and lack of space – this puts a different type of strain on both the teams, trying to do their own investigations in a small amount of space! I really like these personal challenges that Wyer throws in rather that solely focussing on the investigation – it gives a personal and authentic air to all the characters.

Interspersed within the present day investigation, there is a dual narrative set in ‘Then’ which is the abuse of a young boy and his sister. These chapters make for difficult reading, as to be expected, but are written sensitively. I was frustrated (in a good way!) as to what this had to do with the overall storyline but of course, that all becomes clear only when the author is ready to reveal.

In addition to the main narrative, the sub narrative that has run through the series so far regarding the death of Carter’s husband, Davies, continues. Robyn’s cousin, Ross, is looking into the circumstances of Davies’ death which is shrouded in secrecy given the nature of his job. Again, I love the personal side of Robyn that this draws out and I am absolutely desperate to find out what really happened and my gut feeling is with Robyn’s that all is not what it seems!

Once again, the writing and pacing of this book is fabulous, the dual timelines are handled perfectly and come together brilliantly for that ending…all I’ll say is BOOM, just fantastic! The Silent Children is another brilliant outing from DI Carter and her team so once again, waiting with bated breath for book 5 🙂

As a child Carol Wyer was always moving, and relied on humour to fit in at new schools. A funny short story won her popularity, planting the seed of becoming a writer. Her career spans dry cleaning, running a language teaching company, and boxercise coaching. Now writing full-time, Carol has several books published by Safkhet and journalism in many magazines.

Carol won The People’s Book Prize Award for non-fiction (2015), and can sometimes be found performing her stand-up comedy routine Laugh While You Still Have Teeth.

Little Girl Lost, the first book in the Detective Robyn Carter crime thriller series came out in January 2017.